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President Felix Tshisekedi is due to unveil new decisions on Sunday about the latent tensions facing his supporters against those loyal to his powerful predecessor Joseph Kabila.
FILE: The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi. Image: AFP
KINSHASA – The African Union called on the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to preserve “peace and stability” as a crisis in the shaky ruling coalition of the ever-troubled nation widens on Saturday.
President Felix Tshisekedi is due to unveil new decisions on Sunday about the latent tensions facing his supporters against those loyal to his powerful predecessor Joseph Kabila.
Tshisekedi replaced Kabila in January 2019, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first peaceful transition since independence from Belgium in 1960.
But their space to implement much-touted reforms was narrowed by the need to forge a coalition with the pro-Kabila Common Front for Congo (FCC), which has an overwhelming majority in parliament.
On Saturday, around 100 lawmakers and Tshisekedi supporters tried to petition for the resignation of the pro-Kabila lower house speaker, but failed to do so because “all offices were closed,” said Leon Mubikayi, a parliamentarian.
The petition was signed by more than 250 parliamentarians, he said. AFP could not independently verify this.
Alarmed by rising tensions in a conflict-ravaged country, the head of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahama, called for peace after talks with Tshisekedi and Kabila in Kinshasa this week.
He called on all “all political actors to work resolutely and sincerely for national harmony and to preserve peace and stability.”
Kabila supporters number more than 300 in the 500-seat legislature.
Tensions erupted publicly after Tshisekedi in July appointed three new judges to the highest court, the Constitutional Council, quashing strong protests from the pro-Kabila camp.
In October, Tshisekedi revealed that there had been discord on important issues with the FCC-dominated government.
These included national security, the management of state assets, the independence of the judiciary, and the organization of elections.
Last month he embarked on three weeks of consultations with various parties and political figures, seeking “the sacred union of the nation,” in the words of his office.
In the capital, Kinshasa, speculation abounds that it could dissolve the government, a move that could intensify friction as the coalition was born out of a still-unprecedented agreement that Tshisekedi and Kabila reached in January 2019.
Kabila ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 18 years until he resigned after delayed elections in December 2018.
He retains considerable influence through his political allies and appointed officers to the military, and he is also a senator for life.
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